


please don’t be fooled

by SerpentineJ



Category: Money Game (Korea TV)
Genre: M/M, Post-Canon, finale speculation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-29
Updated: 2020-02-29
Packaged: 2021-02-28 03:09:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,091
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22946830
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SerpentineJ/pseuds/SerpentineJ
Summary: Yihyun is waiting for him in the visitation room. Heo Jae pauses at the door when he sees him, his stride slowing, fingers lingering on the doorknob.He makes his way to Yihyun’s table. The corrections officer cuffs him to the table and retreats, taking station next to the door, out of earshot.The entire visitation room is empty. Heo Jae looks around and almost smiles. Yihyun has learned how to use his influence, just a bit.
Relationships: Heo Jae/Chae Yihyun
Comments: 1
Kudos: 4





	please don’t be fooled

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: GHSDKFJKD .. (title from) OST SONG NO.3 “DON’T” IS A HEOCHAE SONG.. the line “maybe he’s hiding his knife behind his smile” sends me into CONNIPTION

“I hate you,” Yihyun says, each syllable trembling, into the phone.

Heo Jae’s sigh comes crackling through from the other end.

“I know.” He says. He sounds strange. His voice is quiet, sorrow and resignation and regret and love packed into two words, making the air around Yihyun shake.

He sounds honest. It’s not something Yihyun is equipped to handle right now. It would be so much easier if Heo Jae would be cruel to him.

“You fooled me.” Yihyun says, tears starting to drip down his face. Ever since he was young, he’s cried at the drop of a hat. His father had always hated it about him. 

“I’m sorry.” Heo Jae says. “For that, and for everything.”

“Don’t apologize.” Yihyun says, vindictive ire welling up in his chest, bile curdling in his throat. “I don’t want to hear it. Even after – that – you still used me. Knowing I was Chae Byunghak’s son.”

“I tried to push you away,” Heo Jae says, as though that’s enough.

“You’re so selfish.” Yihyun says, dropping his honorifics. It feels simultaneously wrong and liberating to speak down to him.

That huffed laugh. Heo Jae is laughing. Yihyun almost can’t believe it.

“I’m glad.” Heo Jae says. He exhales with something that almost sounds like relief. “I thought you might be blaming yourself for not seeing who I am.”

“I’m not.” Yihyun hisses, wiping his face. “I’m blaming you.”

“That’s good.” Heo Jae says. He sounds like he’s smiling. Yihyun can almost see the quirk of his lips. It’s unfair. Heo Jae had gotten him into this mess, and then given him new purpose by sharing his dream only to abandon them both. “Keep hating me. It will keep you alive through all the challenges you’ll be facing.”

“It’s not fair.” Yihyun says, anger and despair raging through his body. He’s standing in his apartment. Even his home isn’t clear of thoughts of Heo Jae. Looking back, their relationship had clearly surpassed the boundaries of ordinary working relationships long ago, which makes Yihyun even more furious. 

He had thought he was being careful against Heo Jae. He had thought he was guarded, and ready to accept that Heo Jae would betray him at any time, as soon as the odds weren’t in his favor. He hates that he wasn’t prepared.

He hates that this hurts so much.

In the past months, whe he’s been suffering, Heo Jae has been the one to offer him support. 

“I know.” Heo Jae says, simply. Yihyun wonders what he looks like in his prison uniform. “I’m sorry.”

He hangs up.

Just like that, Yihyun feels suddenly, shockingly alone.

He stands still, surrounded by the emptiness of his apartment, the dial tone echoing against his ear.

\--

“Prisoner 18393,” the corrections officer says, knocking on the door of Heo Jae’s solitary cell. He still has that much power, at least. “Visitation.”

Heo Jae looks up.

“A visitor?” He says. He doesn’t have family. The government had released a public statement denouncing his actions. Among the people who used to beg for a chance to grease his hand, he’s now public enemy number one. “Who is it?”

“Can’t say.” The officer says, shrugging. He’s young, and doesn’t seem to care about much. Heo Jae supposes working in a prison will do that to you. “Just come out.”

He gets to his feet.

Yihyun is waiting for him in the visitation room. Heo Jae pauses at the door when he sees him, his stride slowing, fingers lingering on the doorknob.

He makes his way to Yihyun’s table. The corrections officer cuffs him to the table and retreats, taking station next to the door, out of earshot.

The entire visitation room is empty. Heo Jae looks around and almost smiles. Yihyun has learned how to use his influence, just a bit.

“What brings you by?” Heo Jae says, as though Yihyun is simply dropping by his flat for a late-night drink, and not visiting him in prison as his father’s killer. He acts as though he isn’t phased. As though the look on Yihyun’s handsome features doesn’t cut him to the bone.

“Did you always intend to do this?” Yihyun asks, a frown on his face. He seems to have composed himself since the last time they had talked, over the phone. Now he doesn’t seem any more emotional than the times he’d sat across the table from Heo Jae at work. “Confess to your crimes and make me your successor?”

“It’s a good story, isn’t it?” Heo Jae says, which is a little cruel. “Sympathy for Chae Yihyun is pouring in across the nation. You could even become the next president.”

Yihyun glares at him.

Heo Jae relents. He’s never been strong against Yihyun’s wishes.

“No,” he says, folding his arms in front of him. It’s liberating, in a way, even if it hurts. Even if Yihyun hates him. When Chief Jo had been able to confess to the media and repent his crimes, and Yihyun had wrapped him in a tight hug, Heo Jae had almost been jealous. He exhales. “I didn’t know there was video evidence.”

“You would have kept deceiving me.” Yihyun says, under his breath.

Heo Jae looks at him.

“My repentance,” he says, his voice starting to shake a little, his breath refusing to slow, because he knows this is just an excuse he gives himself to run from his fear, “was to fix the economy that was failing. Something your father couldn’t do. I was going to do it for him.”

“You liar.” Yihyun says. “You only ever think about your own ego.”

Heo Jae smiles.

“But, anyways,” he says, “you shouldn’t be here. You should be grieving your father.”

Yihyun leans forward, over the table, maintaining eye contact with Heo Jae. 

“I’ve grieved my father.” He says, his fingers turning white with how hard they’re pressing into the tabletop. “I grieved him for months.”

Heo Jae stares at him.

“The person I’m angry at is you.” Yihyun says, quietly, each word expelled like a force from his body. His eyes are dark and unreadable. “Heo Jae. You don’t get to tell me what to do.”

And it’s terrible, but the fury in Yihyun’s gaze stokes a fire in Heo Jae’s gut that he thought he had quelled. He thought he had made his peace with this outcome. He thought he would never see Yihyun again.

Yihyun’s eyes don’t leave his face.

Heo Jae feels the loathsome spring of hope sputter to life in his chest again.

**Author's Note:**

> NOTE: twitter serpentinej tumblr leofemt .......... heochae is sending me Thru it!! THE FUCKING TWIST IN LAST NIGHTS EPISODE ........ WROTE THIS LITERALLY TODAY IN AN EMOTIONAL MESS IM SO .. OVERTAKEN


End file.
